Easy Recipes For A Complete Meal

With our busy lifestyles, homemade lunches are always a treat. But not many of us have the time nowadays to do more than slap together two slices of bread, with something in between if we are lucky. Still, here are four easy-to-handle recipes for a complete meal that kids will enjoy.

Fried Rice

This recipe calls for a bit of planning. Boil the rice the night before and keep it in the fridge.

Before cooking, soak the dried prawns in lukewarm water for about 20 minutes. Fry the shallots and dried prawns in a tablespoon of hot oil till nicely brown. Remove from wok and allow to cool slightly before pounding the mixture in a mortar and pestle.

Sauté the diced long beans till they are cooked. Keep this aside for later.

Scramble the egg in a teaspoon of hot oil. Add the rice, the pounded shallots and dried prawns and the long beans, and toss with a dash of salt till thoroughly mixed.

Homemade Beef Burger

Beat the egg up in a bowl. Put the ground beef, diced carrots, egg and salt into a mixing bowl and combine thoroughly.

Divide the mixture into 50 g portions. Flatten these between two sheets of polythene or waxed paper. Cover half of these with slices of cheddar and sandwich with the remaining pieces of meat.

Amounts indicated are for up to five burgers. The burgers can be pre-prepared and frozen. They will keep for up to eight weeks in the freezer.

Heat a frying pan and add two tablespoons of olive oil. When oil is hot, sizzle the burger on each side for half a minute to seal in the flavours. Turn the heat down, cover the pan and allow the burger to continue cooking, turning once, till brown on both sides.

Slice the bun in half horizontally. Butter both sides if that is your child’s preference. Pop in the burger and it’s good for school.

Potato, Egg and Tuna Salad

Scrub the potatoes and boil them in their jackets. When the potatoes are done, peel the skins off with your fingers and cube them.

Lightly boil the peas for a couple of minutes. Drain and run some tap water over them to stop the cooking.

Combine all the salad ingredients in a bowl and toss lightly with olive oil, salt and pepper. Leave out the pepper if your child does not appreciate the spiciness. Cut the hard-boiled eggs into quarters and arrange the pieces in the salad.

If your child likes celery, this would also be a good vegetable to add. Use the yellowish inside stalks—they are the sweetest and tastiest parts.